Happy New Year

I neglected my picture-taking duties this New Years. The expats had a pool party and welcomed 2009 outside and under the stars. Good times. Since I have no photos I will leave you with this video clip of a pee wee football game. It's terrible but try to watch it just once. Thanks to the Murphy blog for posting it. Happy New Year!

Welcome to the Rock

Thanks to CKD for finding this on YouTube. A little local hip-hop flavor. "I'm from the 684 and proud of it too" -- classic.

Christmas is electric

Christmas is big on the island. Surprisingly, I have seen very few Christmas lights in the last few weeks. The one huge exception is the Catholic church in the village of Leone. Legend has it an old Samoan lady felt bad that Samoan children weren't able to see Disneyland for themselves. So the old Samoan lady took her old pen and wrote an old letter to Disneyland. The good people at Disneyland were so moved by the story they shipped hundreds of Disney-themed decorations to the church so Disney could be experienced by all Samoan children. The result is the electric church seen above.














There are literally hundreds of plastic light up Santas, Winnie the poohs, Mickeys, snowmen, and other fun plastic figures (Mary, Joseph, the donkey) covering every inch of the church's facade.














Across the street is a memorial to John Williams, the English missionary who helped Christianize the area and was later killed and consumed by Polynesian cannibals. Now, instead of cannibals, his tomb is surrounded by electric penguins in top hats and fifty or so Frosty the snowmen.


































"Hooray for missionaries!"















Sad penguin and I trying to figure out the church's electricity bill.

Fa'afafine Pageant

An interesting aspect to American Samoa culture are the Fa'afafine. Fa'afafine are transgender individuals that live in American Samoa and other areas of the South Pacific. Fa'afafine assume a female gender role and are an accepted part of the Samoan way of life. Every year the fa'afafine association holds various talent and beauty pageants to support local causes. This was the annual beauty pageant, which included talent, fashion, and evening gown/Q&A portions.













Almost every contestant chose the same talent, which was lip-synching and dancing to some pop song. My favorite was the contestant that "sang" "Jesus, Take the Wheel" with American sign language.



















The clothes were impressive











and in the end Trinity Ali was crowned Miss (Fa'afafine) American Samoa. It was a unique evening to say the least and an interesting insight into American Samoa culture. Samoa news has a good article about the pageant and the winner here.

Ofu Redux